How to Roll It the Right Pace Every Time

• You often leave putts short of the hole.
• You're not making solid contact with your putter.

The Drill

Find a straight 10-foot putt and set two tees in the green just wider than a ball's width apart. Place the ball just a sliver inside the tees so that when you putt you hit the pegs before you hit the ball. As you roll putts from this setup, you'll find that the ball really "pops" out of the gate, even though you can't make a full stroke. After only a few attempts, this should stop your tendency to decelerate and come up short of the hole.

Why It Works

While it's a good idea to try to make a shorter backstroke and a longer through-stroke to roll the ball with the proper pace, doing so can create more of a pushing motion without true acceleration. By forcing you to "crash" through the tees, the drill helps you accelerate at impact and roll the ball with ample pace. It's better to get this right than to worry about backstroke and forward-stroke lengths. Think about how you clap your hands. You don't slow your hands before the clap. Rather, you accelerate them to produce the loudest possible sound. The same applies to putting.

Be Careful!

This drill creates a powerful putting stroke, so don't be surprised if you send your first few putts steaming past the hole. It's like driving a Ferrari  the first time you take it out you'll probably smoke the tires, but you'll soon learn to control it.